Typewriting machine



f, H. L. PITMAN TYPEWRITING MACHINE Original File Marchl7. 19.23

Patented Mar. 2, 1926 UNITED TATE-s PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY L. PITMAN, OF WESTFIE LD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO UNDERWOODTYPE-\VRITER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

TYIIPEWRITING- MACHINE.

Application filed March 17, 1923, Serial No. 625,699. Renewed -J'u1 y18,1925.

\Vcstlield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in 'lypewriting M chincs,ofwhich the following is a specificat ion.

This inventionrelates to means for automatically tabulating a'paper-carriage or other letter-feeding carriage of a typewriter at oneor more predetermined points in a line of writing, and is in the natureof an improvement on my co-pending application, Serial No. 621,520,filed February 27, 1923.

In said co -pending application the letterfeeding movement of thepaper-carriage is controlled by a rack pivotally mounted on the carriageand normally meshing with a pinion permitted to advance one step at atime at each operation of the escapement mechanism. The teeth of therack are at lettenspace intervals, and the pinion is of such size thattwo of its teeth are always in position to mesh with the rack, Forautomatically tabulating the carriage teeth are omitted to form gapsseparated by a single isolated tooth, which stops the carriage in acolumn in which typing is to be effected by but a single operation of atype-bar before the next automatic tabulating movcmentoe curs. Operationof a type-bar to print in this column causes the pinion to be advancedone step, and unless provision is made for lifting the rack at thisinstant the single isolated tooth remains in engagement with thesametooth on the rack. 7 To effect such lifting of the rack at theproper time, use is made of a member or yoke so positioned on therack-bar as to engage at that instant the usual roll by which the racklifted in connection with manual tabulation. It is desirable to lift therack just enough to clear the pinion, and it would be necessary toexercise great care in making the roll-engaging part of the yoke, of,the right thickness. m

According to the presentinvention, pro vision is made of improvedautomatic racklifting means adjustable to fix with suitable precisionthe extent [of the lifting ofthc rack. p j .i i

In the preferred form of the invention, the temporary lifting of therack is effected by engagement of the usual rack-lifting roll by amember threaded through the rack at one side of the row of teeth andextending downwardly so that, when the carriage reaches thepredetermined letter-space position, the lifting member will ride overthe roll and temporarily disengage the rack from thepinion. By using afine thread for the screw, the extent of the downward projection ofthelifting member may be adjusted as precisely as required. The liftingmember maybesecured in adjusted position by suit I able means, such as alocking. nut.

The threaded lifting member is provided at its lower end with oppositecam-surfaces so as to be effective in both directions of movement of thecarriage. This arrangement limits the adjustment to that'obtained byturning the threaded member to the nearest half rotation. ,1

It will be seen that, inasmuch as the adjustable lifting member does notextend across the row of teeth, it will not affect the engagement of thepinion with the rack at any point except the onedesired. I

. Other features and advantageswill hereinafter appear. r i

V In the accompanying -drawings,

- Figure Al is a diagrammatic side elevation, partly in section, showingthe invention applied to so much of an Underwood standard typewritingmachine as is necessary' for the purpose of illustration.

Figure 2 is a detail view, showing the relative positions of the rackand pinion at the end of the first automatic tabulating movement. 1

Figure 3 is a. View similar to Figure 2, but with the rackklifted as thesingle isolated tooth thereon is released from the piniontooth engagedthereby in Figure'2.

Figure ft is a view similar to Figures 2 and 3, showing the relativepositions of the rack and pinion at the endof the second automatictabulating movement. t

Figure 5 is a detail view, partly in section,

of the adjustable means for lifting the rack. 1

Figure'tl is a view of the screw-member by which the extent of liftingof the rack is determined. i

Upon an actuation of type-keys (not shown), the usual bell-cranks 11will be act'uatedto swing typebars 12 upwardly and rearwardly, to causetypes 13 thereon to v in the desired letter-spacepositions.

riage by means of arms 19, and having'on'its" lower face teeth20, at;letter-space distances, meshing with teeth 21 on a pinion 22. The pinion22has a one-way connection with an escapement wheel 23 bymeans of apawl24;, pivoted'on'the escape'ment wheePa-t 25, and urged into engagementwith the teeth 21 by means of a spring-2o, thus permitting substantiallyfree movement of the pinion 22 by the racii when the carriage isreturned, but preventing movement of'the pinion 22 relatively to theescapement wheel 23 when the'carri'a ge is fed in a letter-feedingdirection. I p r Normally the carriage is held againstletter-feedingmovement by means of a' loose dog 27 in engagement with atooth of theescapement wheel. The loose dog 27 is pivotally mounted on a dog-rocker28, so to swing transversely of the machine, and normally is heldagainst a stop 29 on the dog=roclreragainst the action of a spring 30.As an actuated type-bar 12 nears the end of its typing movement, a heel31 thereon engages a universal bar '32, forming part of a universal,frame 33, and

swings the dogerocker 28, so as to, withdraw the loose dog" fromengagement with the escapement wheel, and to, move a' fixed dog 84 onthe dog-rocker 28 into engagement with the escapement-wheel-tooth justreleased by the loose dog.) Theloose clog27 is then drawn to the left,by the Spi'ingBO, and, upon release of the dog-rocker 28 and returnthereof to normal position, the loose dog 27 will engage the next "toothto the left (Figure 2), and theIspring-drum 17 will advance 7 the.escapement wheel 23 against the action of the spring 80 until the loosedog 2;? again engages the stop 29.

:Upon actuation 0t a tabulator-key (not shown), a link 35. is drawndownwardly, thereby rocking a trame36 forwardly about its pivot 37, tobring, a columnstop 38 thereon into the path of a finger. 89, mounted onthe rear of the carriage. The frame 36 comprises a'lower bar 40, ends{11 and a top bar, 42, having on its inclined face a scale 13 to assistinpositioningstopsBS Each step is pivotally, and slidably mounted onerod 4%, supported in the ends d1 of the frame 36, and is held inposition bythe projection ofits upper end into one of the "eries ofnotches to'atgletter-space positions in the loweredge of the bar12.,Wlien it is desired to change the position of a stop 38, it is swungdownwardly and rearwardly. by means, of a handle 46 I to I withdraw itsupper edge from the corresponding notch 45, and then moved along the rod{14 to the desired position. Each stop 38 is provided with'a pointer 47to cooperate with the scale 43. Upon completion of such adjustment alongthe rod 44, the 's'top"38 is swung forwardly to carry its upper end intothe corresponding notch To enable the tabulation of the carriage whenthe stop-frame 3G is swung forwardly,jprovision is made of an arm 18extending forwardly from the bar 40, so that, upon forward rocking ofthe frame 36, the arm 1-8 will engage the rear end oi a lever igandswing about its pivot 50, to cause a roll 51 on the forward end of thelever to liftthe rack 18 out of engagement with the pinion 22, thuspermitting the carriage'to advance until theiinger 39 engages one of thestops 38. Theroll 51 engagesa track portion 18 of the rack 18,immediately to the front of the teeth 20, a'nd normally liniits'thedownward movement ot therack. In orderto pos ition the roll at theproper elevation, the lever 19 is provided with a set screw 52 to engagea portion'of a bracket 53 on which the lever 49 ispivoted. I v 1Foricertain kinds of work, it is found desirable' to tabulate thecarriage automatically, and, fol-this purpose, certain teeth oftherackl8 are omitted. As herein disclosed, novisionis made of me -ape inthe rack-teeth separated by a single tooth 20 the arrangement being thesame in said co-pending application. I I I As shown in Figure '2 thesingle tooth 2O" is iir engagement withthe tooth 21 of the pinion 22. Asingle operation of the escapem ent mechanism will advance the tooth 21from the I igure2 position to the Figure 3 positiomand, unless the rack18 were lifted as shown in Figure 8, the tooth 20 would still be held bythe'tooth 21.

According to the present invention, such. lifting o'l the racklS-iseffected by adjustable means comprisinga screw 5st threaded through theportion 18 of the rack 18, at such afpointthat, when the rack in meposition shown inFigure 2, the lower end of the screw is in engagementwiththo roll 5 1. Upon a single operation of the escapement mechanism,the rack 18will move from its Figure 2 position to its Figure -1position, When use is made of lifting device of l'ixed range, the rackmay be lifted too far or not far enough to clear the pinion, but bymeans of the adjusting mea ns or the present invention, the properadjustment may easily be etlected. fllo facilitate the movement of thescrew 5 t over the roll 51, the lower end of the screwis taperedat'opposite sides to form a chisel-point with cam-surfaces These surfaces55 must always extend across the path of movement of the rack, and, inadjusting the screw, it must be turned in either direction throu h anangle of 180 degrees or a multiple thereof. The thread of the screw may,however, be made suliiciently fine to enable the adjustment of the screwto a sutlicient degree of precision. I or such adjustment, the screw isprovided with a head 56 having a slot 57 to enable the screw to beadjusted by means of a screw-driver and the screw 54: may be locked inadjusted position by means of a locking nut 58.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, andportions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a typewriting machine, a carriage urged in letter-feedingdirection, escapement means including a pinion advanced one tooth ateach typing operation, a mutilated rack on the carriage normally in meshwith said pinion, a track upon the rack, a roller engaging the track tosupport the rack, and means for automatically lifting the rack out ofengagement with the pinion when the carriage reaches a predeterminedposition.

2. In a typewriting machine, a carriage urged in letter-feedingdirection, escapement mechanism including a bar having a mutilated racksection and a track section, a feeding device to co-operate with therack section, a roller to support the bar by engaging the track section,and means to free the rack section from said feeding device andadjustable relatively to the roller to vary the extent of such rackmovement.

3. In a typewriting machine, a carriage urged in letter-feedingdirection, means to control the carriage, including a pinion and amutilated rack on the carriage meshing with the pinion, means todisengage the carriage-feeding elements, including a. roller and a trackto run on said roller, and means to automatically disengage the rackfrom the pinion, including a screw point threaded through the track andadjustable to determine the extent of the rack disengagement.

a. In a typewriting machine, the carriage urged in letterfeedingdirection, means to control the carriage, including a pinion and a rackon the carriage meshing with the pinion, and means to disengage the rackfrom the pinion, including a member threaded through said rack at oneside of the teeth thereof for adjustment to Vary the extent of thedisengaging movement.

a 5. In a typewriting machine, a carriage urged in letter-feedingdirection, means to control the carriage, including a pinion and a rackon the carriage meshing with the pinion, and means to dlsengage. therack from the pinion, including threaded through said rack at one sideof theteeth thereof for adjustment to vary the extent of the disengagingmovement,- said member having a cam at its effective end to facilitatethe action thereof.

6. In a typewriting machine,a carriage urged in letter-feedingdirection, means to control the carriage, including a pinion and a rackon the carriage meshing with the pinion, and means to disengage the rackfrom the pinion, including a member threaded through said rack at oneside of the teeth thereof for adjustment to vary the extent of thedisengaging movement, said member having oppositely-positioned caius tofacilitate its action irrespective of the direction of movement of thecarriage.

7. In a typewriting machine, a traveling carriage, and means forautomatically tabulating the carriage, comprising a pinion advanced onestep at each typing operation, a letter-space rack on the carriagenormally meshing with said pinion and having two gaps in its teethseparated by a single tooth, and a device to shift said rack out ofengagement with the pinion as the pinion-tooth first engaged by thesingle tooth of the rack is advanced one step, thereby preventing thesingle tooth of the rack from being held by the same tooth of the pinionin the second position of the latter, said device being adjustable tovary the extent of such rackshifting movement.

8. In a typewriting machine, a carriage urged in letter-feedingdirection, escapement means including a pinion advanced a member onetooth at each typing operation and a' 'shiftable rack on the carriagehaving a row of letter-space teeth normally engaging two teeth of thepinion and a straightportion at one side of said row, and means todisengage the rack temporarily when the carriage reaches a predeterminedposition, the disengaging means comprising a member over which thestraight portion of the rack travels and a device on the rack,adjustable to vary the extent of projection thereof from the rack, toengage said member and ride over the same, thereby disengaging the rackfrom the pinion for one letter-space movement of the carriage.

9. In a typewriting machine, a carriage urged in a letter-feedingdirection, escapement mechanism comprising a pinion rotatable one stepat each typing operation and a letter-space rack on the carriagenormally in mesh withitwo teeth of the pinion and having two gaps,separated by a single tooth, for automatically tabulating the carriagetotwo ditierentcolumns, and automatic rack-shifting means for releasingthe single tooth from the pinion as a result of clu ding a member on therack adjustable to vary the'extent of the rack-shifting movement.

10. In a typewritingmachine, a carriage urged in a letter-feedingdirectiomescapement mechanism comprising a pinion rotatable one step ateach typing operation and a letter-space rack on the carriage normallyin mesh with two teeth of the pinionand having two gaps, separated by asingle tooth, for automatically tabulating the carriage to twodiil'ei'ent columns, and automatic rack-shifting means for, releasing,the single tooth from the pinion as a result of a single typingoperation inthe corresponding column, said rack-shifting means includingan adjusting screw-on the rack to vary the extentof the rack-shiftingmovement. 7

11'. In a typewriting machine,.a carriage urged in alett'er-ieedindirection, escape- Inent mechanism comprising a-pinion rotat able'onestep at each typing operation" and a liftable letter-space rack onthecarriage normally inmeshwith two teeth of the'pinion and having twogaps, separated by a single tooth,-for automatically tabulating thecarriage to twoditferent columns, aroll engaging the rack at one side ofthe rackteeth'to limitthe downward movement of the rack and automaticrack-lifting means for releasing the single tooth from'the pinionas aresult of a'single typing operation in, the corresponding column, saidracklifting'means comprising a cam so positioned on the lower side oftherack as to ride over the roll when a typing operation is effected in thecolumn corresponding to the single tooth, and adjustable to vary theextent oi the raclolifting movement.

12. 111 an automatic tabulating-device for a typewriter carriage, anescapement rack having gaps in its teeth separated by a single tooth,and a rack-lifting device comprising a screw movable with the rack tocoropcratevwith' a stationary cam for a rack littingmovement, Z v I, 1

HENRY L; PITMAN.

